The invention in question refers to a programmable monitoring device for electric consumption the purpose of which is to allow automatic monitoring in real time of the electric consumption in a home, on premises and the like, such as offices, banks, stores, hotels, clinics and other public or private premises.
The total consumption of the electric installation or of the consumption of a specific area can be controlled by means of the invention.
Obviously, the invention is applicable for the control and automatic monitoring in real time of the electric consumption of any electric installation.
The effort that is being made to obtain lower electric energy consumption in homes or premises is known. For this purpose, low consumption household appliances and low consumption light bulbs, etc. have been developed.
Now then, it is certain that this all leads to lower consumption, in homes there are no apparatus that carry out the automatic monitoring in real time of the electric consumption of a home, so that the user can take steps against high consumption, in order to furthermore avoid unpleasant surprises when the electric bill arrives.
In this sense, nowadays there is only a meter located outside the user""s home, and where the electric company makes a reading of the consumption made.
These meters are located in places which are not easily and readily accessible to the user, and therefore, controlling consumption turns out to be complicated on occasions.
Furthermore, in the event that the users makes a follow-up of consumption by means of the meter, at no time does he know which is the instantaneous consumption produced in his home, and nor can he detect whether the household appliances, or any other electric apparatus, consumes energy in accordance with the manufacturer""s specifications.
Besides, nor is there any device that indicates to the user, by means of consumption, if he has forgotten to turn off any light, or has left on an electric apparatus, a circumstance that helps save energy, since on occasions the user goes out inadvertently leaving on a light, or electric apparatus.
It should also be pointed out, that there is no apparatus that indicates to the user the amount of money that has been spent during a certain period of time, so that a high electric energy expenditure can be avoided.
In order to solve the above mentioned inconveniences, the invention has developed a programmable monitoring device for electric energy that has means for measuring and indicating the instantaneous consumption for which purpose it is provided with an alphanumeric screen on which the consumption at each moment is shown, in such a way that the user knows in real time the consumption that is produced in his home or premises.
The precise indication of instantaneous electric consumption by means of the alphanumeric screen, makes it possible to monitor and decide, if applicable, to disconnect the unnecessary electric appliance or lighting, which otherwise would remain inadvertently turned on and would be consuming energy, even for a very long time, if the dwellers were to leave the home unknowingly, which causes an evident risk.
The disconnection of the unnecessary household appliance or lighting can be done manually by the user or automatically by means of relays.
The fact that the user can know the instantaneous consumption is useful in order to be able to control the correct operation of any household appliance or electric apparatus, for which purpose it suffices to make a comparative measurement of the nominal consumption indicated by the manufacturer of the household appliance or apparatus in question, with the consumption that increases upon turning on the apparatus.
Besides the monitoring device of the apparatus is provided with means of selection and storage of different consumption levels and means for indicating the different consumption levels, to indicate to the user within what limits the instantaneous consumption produced in his home or premises is in.
The signals sent to the means for indicating the different consumption levels, may be used to control the state of the relays that carry out the above described automatic disconnection.
The means for indicating the different consumption levels are comprised of different colored optical indicators, one for each established level, in such a way that they can be checked rapidly and simply at a distance. For example, three different indicative levels can be programmed: low consumption, average consumption and excess consumption of a value somewhat lower than that of prescribed disconnection that the safety system of the installation would cause upon exceeding the contracted power.
Besides the invention has at least one acoustic indicator, that indicates, by means of different sounds or phrases by a recorded voice, each one of the power levels and other data or alarms of interest for the user. Hence, the acoustic monitoring device warns when the limit established by the user as normal consumption, as well as when the instantaneous consumption approaches the maximum power contracted for a home or premises, has been approached. This latter warning takes place, just as it has been commented above, before the prescribed disconnection that the safety system of the installation would cause, avoiding the subsequent complications and the risks, derived from a short circuit, at night or during the day. Besides, it avoids overheating of the prescribed safety devices of the electric installation itself.
Another characteristic of the invention consists of it having a meter or indicator of the consumed power, as well as means for introducing and displaying the cost of the kilowatt-hour, and means for establishing and displaying the cost of consumption accumulated during a specific period of time.
It also has means for introducing a limit value of the energy cost forecast up to a specific date and means for indicating when this limit has been exceeded.
The means for introducing the cost of the kilowatt-hour and the means for establishing the cost of the consumption accumulated during a specific period of time, are defined by a keyboard, while the corresponding display means are defined by the above mentioned alphanumeric screen.
Therefore, by these means the user can request instantaneous information of the cost accumulated during a specific period of time, and introduce a limit value of the energy cost forecast up to a specific date. In this way, the invention warns the user in the event that this limit has been exceeded before the desired time, the user being able to determine at that moment, the most appropriate measures, well before the corresponding electric bill is received.
Likewise, the means for indicating when the limit of the energy cost forecast up to a certain date has been exceeded, can be defined by optical and/or acoustic indicators.
The means for storing the different energy level values, as well as the means for storing the kilowatt-hour cost, are defined by a memory, whose operation is controlled by a microprocessor that carries out the processing of the different data and control of the operation of each and every one of the elements that comprise the programmable monitoring device of the invention.
It should be mentioned that the described monitoring device permits its use as an energy control peripheral in a domotic installation, since it can communicate the different instantaneous readings and the values preselected by the users to a personal computer, or the like, so that they automatically manage the pertinent connection or disconnection of loads in the home or premises.
Besides, the invention allows one to measure at one or several points of the installation, for which purpose a meter that is connected to a transmitter/receiver to send the data to the microprocessor of the monitoring device of the invention is installed at the points, so that said microprocessor may also be connected to a transmitter/receiver.
Besides, the system has a transmitter/receiver that is connected to a second microprocessor for the purpose of allowing automatic reprogramming of the microprocessor of the invention, so that all the functions available in the successive models of the equipment can be automatically updated.
All the described means, have the big advantage that they prevent the risks of fire, explosion or other disasters, derived from eventual electric accidents caused y household appliances or by lighting systems that remain inadvertently left on, when one leaves the home or premises.
The invention also has the advantage of permitting one to control his own private economy and energy savings in general, contributing to control the electric energy cost in populations where it is used.
Hereinafter to provide a better understanding of this specification and forming an integral part of the same, a series of figures in which the object of the invention has been represented in an illustrative and non-restrictive manner is accompanied.